Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour)
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That is right. Even Deputies have shortcomings. I saw people putting back the ballot paper in regard to the Seanad. While everyone here may not agree with me on this, I could see people folding the paper and putting it back without voting because the wording was so bad. I thought, given the subject matter, somebody would have mentioned that.

As I have said before, the Referendum Commission made a bags of it in respect of that referendum. If that had happened in the Scottish referendum last year, there would have been another referendum and all hell would have broken loose, but it did not happen. It was one of those extraordinary things that so many people folded up their ballot paper due to the confusion. I am not saying it was by design or otherwise. I have my own opinion about the Seanad, although I will not go down that road today and irritate more people.

With regard to one of the merits of the electoral commission, the witnesses quite rightly point to the registration of electors. Like my colleague, I think local authorities do the best job they possibly can. I am obviously very pro-local government and think we are very lucky to have good councils, particularly in Dublin. The staff do the best they can. Professor Marsh used the word "civic". One of the problems we have, which is due to the reality of being an island off another island, is that we do not have the sort of civic responsibility that other Europeans have.

The Romans did not come here and we have a strong Luddite tradition. While some people take voting very seriously, others who go up to the polling booth and find they are not registered do not feel it is the end of the world. They go home and watch "Eastenders". We have to get to a place where people take the franchise very seriously, and education is part of that.

Nobody has referred to the new difficulty which all politicians now experience in respect of elections and referendums. The number of people going out to vote does not decline. I do not talk about the turnout any more. I am not sure about Carlow-Kilkenny, but in the by-election in my constituency of Dublin South-West, and in the recent referendums, the issue was not the turnout but the number of people who stayed at home. People are not going out to vote. There are those who argue that it will be repeated again next April. I take my share of responsibility, but that is what has happened.

In respect of the possibility of setting up a new commission, there is accelerating hostility among the public towards another body or quango, so to speak, appointed by the Government. I have said before that this Government or some other is going to run out of retired judges. We will have to import them because we have so many inquiries and commissions.

I am always amazed by this notion of the independence of judges, although I do not know any; none of them live in my estate so I do not mix with them. Judges in this country are the most political and ideological - I know what side of the House they vote. To suggest we can bring in a judge who is going to be entirely impartial, I would be more inclined to bring in a retired judge from Greece than to put in one of our own.